SCHOOLGIRL MEGAN Stammers (15) and her 30-year-old married maths teacher Jeremy Forrest were found “safe and well” in central Bordeaux yesterday, apparently on their way to a job interview, according to French police.
Their discovery ended an eight-day international hunt involving Interpol and brought huge relief to their families.
Ms Stammer’s stepfather, Martin Stammer, spoke of “pure elation” at the news that she had been found, while Mr Forrest’s parents, Jim and Julie Forrest, said the pair’s flight had been “an ordeal for all the families concerned”.
The teenager was last night in the care of British consular staff and Sussex police child protection officers in Bordeaux, while Mr Forrest was held in French custody where he is expected to remain over the weekend until a hearing on Tuesday to authorise his extradition to the United Kingdom.
The schoolgirl and the teacher fled their separate homes in East Sussex on Thursday last week on a Dover to Calais ferry shortly after it appeared the police might have become aware of their potentially illegal relationship.
They were stopped by French police at 12.15pm on Rue Sainte-Cathérine, the main high street in the centre of Bordeaux.
The prosecutor’s office said they had been found thanks to “an interesting and credible witness” who contacted them 48 hours earlier. – (Guardian service)